Internet service providers and trade groups filed a 95-page brief on Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia laying out their arguments why the Federal Communications Commission’s new net neutrality rules that went into effect in June should be overturned.

It seems that the core argument among ISPs is that common carrier rules cannot be applied to broadband internet providers because they provide "information services" and not "telecommunication services."

According to a National Journal report, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received over 2,000 complaints in the first month the new net neutrality rules went into effect. The new net neutrality rules went into effect in early June, despite a federal court challenge by trade groups and ISPs seeking an injunction while they sued the FCC over their legality. The court declined that request.

Federal Communication Commission (FCC) chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to tell U.S. lawmakers this week that the net neutrality rules implemented in early June will not interfere with internet service providers investing in infrastructure.

Republican FCC commissioner Ajit Pai said that broadband rate regulations are coming, despite the fact that the FCC specifically said since before new regulations went to affect in June that it had no plans to regulate broadband.

Pai, who voted against the new rules in a February meeting that ultimately saw them approved, said that the ATT-DirecTV is a prime example of rate regulation.

It's official: the FCC has voted and given approval for AT&T to buy DirecTV today. The FCC did put a few conditions on AT&T, though nothing the company wasn't anticipating. Besides promising to abide by the new net neutrality rules implemented in June, AT&T promises to expand its broadband network to 12.5 million customer locations and to give discounted rates to poorer consumers.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler has given his approval to a merger between AT&T and DirecTV merger. Wheeler released an order today to other commissioners within the FCC highlighting his support for the merger.

"The proposed order outlines a number of conditions that will directly benefit consumers by bringing more competition in the broadband marketplace," Wheeler wrote in the order.

The Hill reports that Senate Republicans are pushing a rider to an appropriations bill that would bar the Federal Communications Commission from regulating broadband Internet rates under its net neutrality rules.

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has already said that the agency would not get into rate regulation, but that hasn't stopped Republicans from pushing measures that would stop them from doing... what the agency has no plans of doing in the first place.

While entertainment streaming company Netflix may have opposed the Time Warner Cable - Comcast merger, it appears to support a merger between TWC and its latest suitor, Charter. Why? Well, apparently if the merger happens the new entity won't charge large content providers and network operators for direct connections to its network, according to this Ars Technica report.

Earlier this week Comcast revealed a new streaming service called Comcast Stream. The service is aimed at its Internet customers and allows for streaming to laptops, phones and computers starting at $15 month. There are a few caveats to the service: first it doesn't support smart TVs or devices such as Roku or Apple TV, meaning that it is mostly meant to be used by subscribers who don't use those things now.

Vermont Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders (who is currently going head-to-head with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination) and three other senators - Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), and Al Franken (D-Minn.) - have sent a letter to the Federal Communication Commission urging the agency to investigate how cable and broadband providers are charging their customers for services.

While the new net neutrality rules approved by the European Commission for the entire European region may ban roaming charges for cell phones and apply some basic net neutrality tenets, the new law will also circumvent laws in countries that already exist, according to a Politico report.

Mobile phone and broadband provider AT&T says that it will give cheaper Internet service to the poor if the FCC approves its merger plan with satellite TV provider DirecTV. In a new filing with the FCC, AT&T says that it will offer "qualifying residents" (those who already receive government assistance of some sort - such as food stamps - and aren't already customers) in areas where AT&T's top speeds are below 5Mbps DSL service of up to 1.5Mbps for $5 a month.

International consumer watchdog SumOfUs.org, is backing a current shareholder resolution at Time Warner’s annual general meeting of shareholders in New York City this week calling on the Internet and cable service provider to disclose all of its political spending and to end the funding of shadow organizations opposed to net neutrality.

Federal Communications Commission member Michael O’Rielly, a Republican, said yesterday that "Internet access is not a necessity or human right" and called this one of the most important "principles for regulators to consider as it relates to the Internet and our broadband economy." O'Rielly's remarks were part of a speech delivered to the Internet Innovation Alliance yesterday.

Mobile broadband provider Sprint has decided that it might be a good idea to stop throttling customers who pay for an unlimited data plan. Likely Sprint found the inspiration to change its activities on this from AT&T, who the FCC fined $100 million for doing pretty much the same thing.

The White House sent to a letter to the House Appropriations Committee this week strongly urging lawmakers to remove language that would stop the FCC from enforcing the new neutrality rules that went in to effect this month. Congress has added language to the appropriations bill that would limit the FCC's power to enforce the new rules and cut $25 million from its annual budget.

AT&T learns the new reality of violating the rules of net neutrality: there will be blood. Or rather, there will be consequences to messing with customers. The Federal Communications Commission has fined the mobile provider $100 million for slowing down or "throttling" Internet speeds of customers who signed up for unlimited data plans. The FCC found that when customers used up a certain amount of data watching video or browsing the Web, the company throttled their Internet speeds so that they were much slower than normal.

Yesterday a federal court refused to delay implementation of a key part of the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality order that was approved in its late February meeting. That key part of the new rules classifies broadband and mobile broadband as common carrier under Title II of the Telecommunications Act and goes into effect today. Trade groups and telecoms filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction of the new rules while things were fought out in federal court, but the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected that request.

As this Ars Technica report points out, the Federal Communication Commission's new net neutrality rules - which it approved in a meeting in late February - take effect on June 12. Internet service providers- while suing the FCC in federal court - are still tidying things up to avoid having complaints filed against them. Some of these complaints about connection speeds could be cleared up by interconnection deals that have been signed over the last two months.

Showtime Networks announced today that it will bring its popular pay-TV channel to entertainment streaming devices - including game consoles - later this year. And it will also allow customers to stream live content from the network - in addition to having on-demand access to all of its shows. AND - it claims - it will be a lot cheaper than HBO's $14.99 a month price tag for HBO GO (which, for the record, does not allow for live streaming of its network content.)

Politico reports that the Federal Communications Commission is drafting a proposal to extend the Lifeline mobile phone program (often referred to by some as the "Obamaphone" program, despite the fact it was around long before he took office) to cover broadband Internet for the poor.

Charter Communications is getting out in front of any trouble it might have with the Federal Communications Commission on the subject of net neutrality after seeing the spectacular unraveling of the deal between Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Earlier this week Charter announced its plans to acquire Time Warner Cable for around $55 billion and a side deal to buy up Bright House for $10 billion.

The newest edition of the Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary is adding a number of new internet-related terms including "meme," "emoji," and "net neutrality." The new edition will feature more than 1,700 new entries, according to an announcement this week by Merriam-Webster announced this week.

Update: Charter Communications officially announced its intentions to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House this morning. In its announcement Charter laid out how big a piece of the pie it will hold when the dust settles on the deal to merge with Time Warner Cable and acquire Bright House:

While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) doesn't agree with much in all the lawsuits filed with the D.C. Appeals Court concerning net neutrality, it does agree with one thing: the court should make a decision as expediently as possible.

French rights group La Quadrature du Net is claiming that it has obtained a leaked copy of a "non-paper" on net neutrality written by the presidency of the Council of the EU that basically guts net neutrality protections in the European Union. It also delays or waters down previous proposals that would have abolished mobile roaming charges in the European Union. La Quadrature du Net further claims that the "heavily edited" document removes any reference to "net neutrality," removes language about protecting against throttling, and other protective language.

According to Reuters and VentureBeat reports, a French billionaire that most in the United States have never heard of may have designs on acquiring one of the country's biggest broadband and cable providers - Time Warner Cable.

North Carolina has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over its new net neutrality rules set to take effect in June, Ars Technica reports. In addition to reclassifying broadband and mobile as common carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act and banning certain practices (throttling, blocking certain types of traffic), the FCC preempted state laws that allow them to block municipal broadband operations.

Infophile: @Matt: Apparently Dan Aykroyd actually is involved. We don't know how yet, though, but he's apparently going to be in the movie in some way.08/02/2015 - 4:17am

Mattsworkname: I still hold that not having the origonal cast invovled in any way hurts this movie, and unless the 4 actresses in the lead roles can some how measure up to the comic timing of the origonal cast, i just don't see it being a success08/02/2015 - 12:46am

Mattsworkname: Mecha: regardless of what you think of it, GB 2 was a finanical success and for it time did well with audiances ,even if it wasnt as popular as the first08/02/2015 - 12:45am

MechaTama31: I think they're better off trying to do something different, than trying to be exactly the same and having every little difference held up as a shortcoming. Uncanny valley.08/01/2015 - 11:57pm

MechaTama31: Having the original cast didn't do much for... that pink-slimed atrocity which we must never speak of.08/01/2015 - 11:56pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: If the new ghostbusters bombs, I cant help but feel it'll be cause it removed the origonal cast and changed the formula to much08/01/2015 - 8:31pm

Andrew Eisen: Not the best look but that appears to be a PKE meter hanging from McCarthy's belt.08/01/2015 - 7:34pm

Mattsworkname: You know what game is a lot of fun? rocket league. It' s a soccer game thats actually fun to play cause your A Freaking CAR!08/01/2015 - 7:02pm

Mattsworkname: Nomad colossus did a little video about it, showing the world and what can be explored in it's current form. It's worth a look, and he uses text for commentary as not to break the immerison08/01/2015 - 5:49pm

Mattsworkname: I feel some more mobility would have made it more interesting and I feel that a larger more diverse landscape with better graphiscs would help, but as a concept, it interests me08/01/2015 - 5:48pm

Andrew Eisen: Huh. I guess I'll have to check out a Let's Play to get a sense of the game.08/01/2015 - 5:47pm

Mattsworkname: It did, I found the idea of exploring a world at it's end, exploring the abandoned city of a disappeared alien race and the planets various knooks and crannies intriqued me.08/01/2015 - 5:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Did it appeal to you? If so, what did you find appealing?08/01/2015 - 5:43pm

Mattsworkname: Its an interesting concept, but it's not gonna appeal to everyone thats for sure,08/01/2015 - 5:40pm

Andrew Eisen: That sounds horrifically boring. Doesn't sound like an interesting use of its time dilation premise either. 08/01/2015 - 5:36pm